December 29, 2010

I have to admit it, I have a real weakness for grey ouessant wool. It’s a seductive, magnificent, richly shaded color. A color that’s all together unusual and singular, right? Well, perhaps not quite as unusual and singular as that! You see, I think that I’ve found this same color in a little package that has come to me all the way from Canada.

First, a huge thank you to Jody who sent me a little package full of wool from her alpacas. Jet black. Silver Grey. And last but certainly not least ... rose-grey, a color to melt the heart of any spinner. I was struck not only by the beauty and the fineness of this gorgeous rose-grey alpaca, but also by how much the color of this alpaca was like the color of light grey ouessant wool. In the following photo we see a skein of grey ouessant wool on the niddy-noddy : on the left is grey ouessant wool, on the right rose-grey alpaca.

December 26, 2010

Finally, here is the last step of my little experiment with lace weight singles.If you remember, last year I had the chance to work with the fleece of Ponette des Lutins du Montana, a beautiful little grey ewe.

And what a joy it was to again be able to work with Ponette’s fleece this year!A big thanks to Dominique, her shepherd, and to Ponette too!From this fleece, I spun a lace-weigh single that I then used to knit a lovely little lace shawl.

A few comments : While I was knitting this shawl, I kept thinking about how wild and energetic these singles looked after they had been washed. When I wash this shawl, will I end up with a heap of tangled messy yarn? To my great surprise (& relief), when I washed the shawl before blocking, it looked normal : wet, but normal! I could hardly believe it. Then, I remembered a few ideas that Judith MacKenzie McCuin discussed in The Intentional Spinner(Interweave Press, 2009). Essentially, she underscored the fact that each time you manipulate yarn after it is spun, you are potentially modifying the twist : you are either increasing twist or decreasing twist. (p. 88) So ... & this is just a guess .... it might be possible that just knitting a single tends to decrease its twist. Hummm ... just an idea! At any rate, I have more shawls to knit and we’ll have to see how they turn out!

Oh dear! What do we do with this? Hum, this type of a single calls for some serious blocking. Generally speaking, the weight of the wool itself is enough. But this time, I used a small PVC tube and some weight to help set the twist. I looks pretty good after drying :

December 2, 2010

When I see the fields covered in snow, I experience a very soothing sensation. Everything is peaceful and quiet : not the least sound of “civilization”. You can hear the snow falling, a twig breaking, and the birds looking for something to eat.

Thank you for visiting the Spinning Shepherd!

" Quand on veut un mouton, c'est la preuve qu'on existe. "

Le Petit Prince -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Welcome! Bienvenue!

Hello! My name is Diane and I live in Normandy (France).I'm an avid spinner and knitter, and the proud owner of a small flock of ouessant sheep.Come and join me as I share my hand spun yarns, woolly tales and sheepish musings!